Into The Great Wide Open I Go

September I’m taking a trip that I had planned on taking thirteen years ago. Before marriage, two children and two careers I dreamed of exploring the west. I know not exotic or international but at the time I wasn’t thinking as big as time has now allowed me to dream. I just knew I thought it was beautiful and something out there called to me. Well life happened and I let this dream slip from my mind. When my time is up I don’t want to look back and regret moments and opportunities in front of me that I was too scared to take.

“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die discover that I had not really lived.”

-Henry David Thoreau

So to the planning. I’m using the website Roadtrippers which even has a handy little app. One of the coolest apps ever. As I plan I can see pics and suggestions of little roadside diners to eat or unique places to stop on the trip. Spotify lets me plan my playlists and the list of audiobooks is growing. So far I have: Breaking the Habit of Being You , The Seven Last Works, Chalise and The Stone, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari ,The Lost Art of Good Conversation and Wisdom Rising – any other book suggestions would be great as well.

How cool is this?

As I plan my solo journey I don’t want to totally commit to a plan as of yet. It is not the original plan I envisioned but thanks to the world wide web, I have been opened to things I never knew existed. Thirteen years later I see the world differently physically and mentally. Just like my own journey in life, the path will not be straight and easy but waving and winding throughout the northwest down to the southwest. Bucket list items like watching a concert at Red Rocks while the sun sets in the distance and standing in awe of the Red Woods will be checked off. Prayer in the Garden of the Gods and meditating in a labyrinth that overlooks the Pacific Ocean are up there too. This journey will not only be a physical journey but a spiritual one for me.

Some people I tell about this journey question if I will even do it. Let me just say if someone comes to you and tells you about a grande and maybe what seems like an absolute crazy idea just remember they have used their courage to share this and there is a reason we share our dreams – to make them reality. It starts with one mention to one person and that energy grows in you and in the world. That is how dreams become reality. No dream ever came to fruition by being kept trapped in a tiny corner of one’s mind.

Jarred encourages me to talk about this to everyone, start a blog and plan to capture every moment of it. This requires me to get back on social media which I struggle with. Putting my life out there – does everyone want to know what I’m doing? However I guess people that do want to know can follow along and if not they don’t they don’t have to. He even encourages to make a separate website for it as well as a hashtag – the man has been watching too many travel documentaries. I do want to document it and encourage others to chase a long lost dream no matter how big or small. So here’s to my trying to document this planning and journey. Wish me luck.